CHAPTER 70 It’s Another Potts’s Cast!

CHAPTER 70

It’s Another Potts’s Cast!

Brownie

Brownie snuggled deeper into her blankets, sad when Rufus left. She was sadder still to wake up without the warmth of the beastman beside her.

Maybe she could convince him to sleep with her again … and maybe she would phrase it differently when she asked. Or not. They were adults, after all.

It was time to go down.

The inn was bright, and travelers were signing in and out with a lizardkin woman behind the counter. Brownie dropped her key in the return box and was ready to go. Her companions were standing a few feet from the door, Slake on her beastman’s shoulder. They waved her over, and Rufus greeted her with a winning smile that had her elated all the way to her toes.

“Good morning, I’m sorry I had to slip out.”

Brownie shook her head. “No worries. Are you ready to grab something and—”

The door to the inn burst open, and a preela shoved their head inside. “Ruby! It’s another Potts’s Cast!”

The lizardwoman gave a shout, and everyone rushed out to hear the news, Brownie and Rufus and Slake near the front of the throng.

… and anyone going to Julia’s Grotto this week for the Peldeep Apple Blossom Festival shouldn’t fear the fireworks. The knight commander’s wedding will have some unexpected magical guests who weren’t invited, and Their Royal Highness Rowen of Peldeep is going to get to show off that they still got it.

Anyone in the Dungeon Valley Crest will notice an increase in tulip belles on the third floor for the next few days. And the monsters on the second floor will have a +10% drop rate for ravenwing grass circlets. Please remember your Sleep and Paralysis antidotes.

Tinker Tate has made an appearance in the Dark Enchanted Forest and has some of the rarest and most sought-after materials. If you have the chance to see the tinker, be sure to offer up a song. If he likes it, you might get a discount.

There’s a pink portal user who’s causing everyone grief these days. You know who you are. I’m here to say that you probably shouldn’t be going up against an enchanted forest that can eat you.

The Summer Solstice Celebration is only a few weeks away. For anyone who doesn’t know, the festival will end with the wedding between Countess Julia von Slyke from North Sumbria and Necromancer Chloe Watercress from the Dark Enchanted Forest. This enchanter has it on the best authority that the newest popular trend in North Sumbria is a fine herringbone weave, tassels, and a boot dagger. If you have a favorite dagger, might I suggest not hiding it in your boot, because that is the first place anyone will look?

This was Madame Potts with the latest news. I hope everyone is enjoying the fine weather!

As a note, starting tonight, it’s going to rain for five solid days, so be prepared. I’m not.

The lizardkin inn staff, who was standing beside Brownie, patted the preela on the shoulder. “My thanks again. How did it start?”

“The usual, ‘This is Madame Potts with the latest opening, and then she said something about a Baldorin thief running around Drendil.”

“Really?” The lizardkin chuckled. “Serves the kingdom right.”

Brownie shared a look with Rufus. That was not very kind to Drendil, and yet … up until recently, the kingdom had been ruled by an abusive, vicious tyrant who would rather conquer the neighbors than pay trade taxes. Poor Henrietta. Brownie couldn’t even imagine having to live under the same roof as the deposed king and queen. Having to hide the thing she loved for fear that her parents would discover the truth and punish her … Luckily, Regent Havork was ruling the place now. The man was doing his best and trying to raise Henrietta’s cousin as the new Crown Prince Nathaniel. A crown prince who had been revealed on his hundred-day celebration to have dark-red hair and black eyes that looked nothing like his father, Duke Francis … or his mother, Dowager Princess Beatrice, for that matter. The woman had been conferred a new title upon her divorce from Duke Francis, and Beatrice was thriving with the newfound political freedom.

She was a menace, in the best kind of way .

“She also said”—the preela leaned in to her friend—“that we’ll be in for a smaller fruit harvest this year. Come to think of it, Madame Potts forgot to mention where the rain was going to hit. ”

“We’ll find out tonight.”

All about, the people returned to their day-to-day, but Rufus, Brownie, and Slake remained on the sidewalk.

“Still think Madame Potts is Their Royal Highness?” Rufus asked, a bit teasing. “They would compliment themselves live on Crystal Cast.”

“Do you still think it’s me?” Brownie countered, resettling her instrument by tugging a bit on her strap.

“I think it’s Feliwyn,” Slake commented offhand.

“Her Eminence?” Rufus shook his head slowly so as not to disturb the grimalcat on his shoulder. “That dragon’s been asleep for almost a decade, and she’s more the kind to just eat anything that irks her, not warn people about their own problems.”

Brownie felt the urge to hold the beastman’s hand, and so gave in. She reached out until her fingers brushed his with the barest touch. Rufus noticed her intention and gave her a tight smile, taking her hand. Her Eminence Feliwyn was the regent who had chosen him to be Keith’s playmate, effectively dooming him to live far from his family and take up his life in the Black Fortress. It wasn’t advanced magical theory to guess that he might have some mixed feelings about the dragon.

Slake licked his paw, “That doesn’t mean she isn’t doing it.”

“Did you know,” Rufus admitted, “that the King’s Crystal, the specific crystal that we use to activate our own kingdom-wide Cast system in the Dark Enchanted Forest … was misplaced in Her Eminence Feliwyn’s horde?”

Slake smiled. “Furthering my point.”

“The Dragon Feliwyn was right there , asleep, for the entire wedding. But Madame Potts’s Cast made it sound like she was sitting around sharing tea and cake with the rest of us.” Brownie tugged Rufus’s hand, walking them over to the stall next to the inn where her horse had miraculously behaved herself all evening.

“She could’ve lied,” Slake proposed. “And what happened to your horse?”

Or maybe miracles only happened over bimbleberry mead.

“Donna,” Brownie sighed. “ Whyyy? ”